


The Absence of Light

by nowwhateinstein



Category: The X-Files
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Romance, Summer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-12
Updated: 2016-05-12
Packaged: 2018-06-08 00:18:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6831190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nowwhateinstein/pseuds/nowwhateinstein
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s incredible, how they find each other in the darkness</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Absence of Light

**Author's Note:**

> Drabble in response to leiascully‘s X-Files Writing Challenge on Tumblr. The prompt was “outdoors." Situated somewhere in the broad arc of Seasons 6 & 7.

Scully awoke to a hand on her shoulder and Mulder’s voice speaking softly into her ear. “Hey, Scully, wake up.”

She sat up. “Mulder, where are we?” 

“Just outside Harrisonburg, off of I-81. A slight detour.” 

She heard him unbuckle his seatbelt and exit the car. She glanced down at her watch: 11:21pm. They’d left Roanoke nearly two hours ago, after a tedious and ultimately fruitless case. She must have fallen asleep somewhere between Lexington and Staunton. 

Mulder opened her door, admitting the oppressive humidity of a warm June night into the vehicle. She got out, blearily rubbing her eyes and yawning. Besides the pinpricks of distant stars above, everything around her was slight gradations of black; no moon tonight. Crickets and cicadas filled the night air with their unrelenting cacophony. 

Mulder’s voice sounded beside her, impatient. “Come on. There’s something I want you to see.”

“See what? I can’t see a thing, Mulder. There’s more light inside a black hole than wherever it is we are right now. I need my flashlight.” 

“No flashlights. Give your eyes a few minutes to adjust.” He took her hand before she could protest, leading her like a small child away from the car. 

Scully stumbled and swore aloud when her feet unexpectedly left the familiar firmness of the asphalt and landed on soft, spongy ground. She felt Mulder’s arm slip around her waist to catch her. 

“Where are you taking me, Mulder?” she asked through gritted teeth, fighting the urge to elbow him in the gut; she was confident she manage that, even in the dark. 

“Into the woods, to see one of Nature’s greatest performances,” he replied, helping her regain her footing. “I discovered this place while working on a case out here the summer after I joined the Bureau.”

“Mulder, it’s still two and a half hours back to DC, and we have a seven AM meeting with Skinner tomorrow. At this point, we may as well drive straight to the J. Edgar Hoover Building and sleep in the basement.”

“As long as we can build a blanket fort and tell each other ghost stories, count me in.” She couldn’t see his face, but she knew he was grinning. “This won’t take long,” he promised. 

Perhaps it was the excitement in his voice that prevailed against her better judgement, but she allowed him to lead her farther into the darkened woods. Thankfully, the ground was level and (mostly) free of rocks and tree roots. They’d only been walking for a couple of minutes before Mulder stopped.

“Look, Scully.”

Her eyes must have finally adjusted to the absence of light, because she could make out that they were at the edge of a large clearing. In the center stood a large oak tree - easily the tallest she’d ever seen. Its towering bulk cast a darker silhouette against the night sky. 

While the size of the oak was impressive enough, what was on the tree itself made her gasp: fireflies - thousands of them - covered the mass of leaves and branches and space around the tree. Their tiny lights flickered in an ethereal, mesmerizing display. Scully glanced at the other trees in the clearing; none of them held such a large concentration of fireflies as this giant. 

Mulder stepped closer to her. “It’s a mating ritual as old as these hills,” he explained. “The males are the ones you see flying. They are the first to flash, then they wait for a response from the females, who flash their from their position on a leaf or blade of grass. They distinguish each other from other firefly species by the color of their bio-luminescence and the temporal patterning of their flashes.” 

He fell silent as they both contemplated the spectacle in front of them. Then quietly, as if to himself, he said, “It’s incredible, how they find each other in the darkness.” 

In response, she reached out to where she knew he was and grasped his hand. His fingers intertwined with hers, holding them tightly.

They lingered a few moments more at the edge of the clearing, then together, headed back into the woods.


End file.
